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The imminent collapse of the Larsen B Ice Shelf

By Midge Raymond,19th May 2015

The Larsen B Ice Shelf has been in the news recently due to a recent NASA report about the shelf’s increasing fragmentation, including visible cracks. This is alarming news, as the breakup of the remainder of this ice shelf — which could happen within the next five years — would cause a massive rise in sea levels globally. While the United Nations projected the planet could see a rise in sea level of up to three feet by the year 2100, due to human-induced climate change, this study did not take into account the potential loss of Larsen B.

Global warming has been increasing faster at the planet’s poles than elsewhere on the planet. The Antarctic peninsula alone is nearly 5 degrees warmer than it was 50 years ago — an astonishing increase in temperature. The big danger in losing the Larsen Ice Shelf is that it holds three of the continent’s glaciers in place. With the ice shelf gone, the glaciers will advance into the ocean; it’s this loss of ice that will cause the rise global sea levels.

The Larsen Ice Shelf has existed for 11,000 or 12,000 years, says lead researcher Ala Khazendar in this video, below. After a large part of the shelf broke off in 2002, it has been weakening quickly and is not expected to last more than a few more years. Without a doubt, he says, this will affect sea level rise.

“It is certainly a warning,” he says. “The conclusion is inescapable.”